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Mr Langvatn's Underdog Beast

Tactic updated 04.01.2013

Hello my fellow Football Managers!

A lot of people have been requesting an underdog tactic from me, so here it comes!

It is a 4-2-2-1-1 formation, and it is incredibly stable in the back, as well as quite okay going forward in my opinion. It is based on direct, counter-attacking football, so please get players who are quick in addition to the recommended stats for their roles.

I picked Reading as my test subject (most underdog team in the EPL). Throughout the first season I was just tweaking all the time, still made 7th place first season. The second season I tested the finished tactic, and had 6-2-0, then I went to bed, as I was quite content with the results both from this season and the last one. I bought ZERO players the second season.

Always give your team high bonuses in the competitions you want to do good in...

Keep your players happy. In this year's FM, this has a MUCH bigger impact than in previous editions.

Players: See the different roles + pace/acceleration

Most important player: Trequartista and Complete Forward

Match prep: Defensive positioning
Training: Balanced
Team Talk: Been using assistant manager to do that
No opposition instructions

If you get a player sent off, take off the defensive midfielder.

When game starts, use match prep: tactics only, together with team cohesion training, 50/50 until your first league match. Then change to Balanced/Defensive Positioning. NB! Start the preseason 6 weeks before league start, so the tactic is 100% fluid before your first league game.

got a picture of your results with this? This does seem more solid than the others. Non of your other ones worked for me as my team is Crystal Palace (everything was fluid too). Promoted first season, Finished 13th in prem and now struggling like a bitch barely above drop zone so will keep this one going till end of season.

got a picture of your results with this? This does seem more solid than the others. Non of your other ones worked for me as my team is Crystal Palace (everything was fluid too). Promoted first season, Finished 13th in prem and now struggling like a bitch barely above drop zone so will keep this one going till end of season.

I haven't tested it long enough to post the results. Only 8 matches played with the tactic after completion. But you can see on the screenshots above that I'm on 1st place in October.